


Ring Out, Wild Bells

by grapalicious



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Grantaire's cynicism, Happy Ending, M/M, New Year's Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 14:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3072131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grapalicious/pseuds/grapalicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's twenty seconds to midnight and Enjolras' eyes haven't left his.</p>
<p>He doesn't look away either and he takes a deep breath. "Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky," he mutters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ring Out, Wild Bells

**Author's Note:**

> Obligatory New Year's fic? I've still got a few hours left of 2014 and figured I'd get one last fic posted before the new year. 
> 
> I'm not sure what I was aiming for but it turned into some sort of Grantaire character study with a side of e/r. The title is taken from the Tennyson poem of the same name.

**7 hours 23 minutes til midnight**

New year. New beginnings.

What a load of crap. 

Grantaire didn't subscribe to the motivational bullshit that was spouted at every turning of another year.

It was all just some psychological ploy to persuade people into changing for the better and then make them feel guilty when they fall back into the same old routines. 

Grantaire wasn't buying into it. He doesn't remember the last time he made a New Year's resolution because he knew he'd never kept one and he never would.

The start of a new year didn't end the misery or the disappointments that people endured every day. Life kept going, as shitty as always, and a new calendar didn't mean miracle start overs and magical attitude changes.

Time was cyclical and followed patterns. Grantaire knew his pattern. He drank, he mocked, he failed those he loved. He tried, sometimes, to be better. But he never tried hard enough. Because things don't ever really change. Why try to force the impossible?

Tomorrow might be a different year, but in Grantaire's book, it would be a day that's as same as the one before.

 

**6 hours 2 minutes til midnight**

Grantaire can't remember every New Year's Eve he's celebrated. Because the best thing about ringing in the new year is the drinks. There's been more than one occasion when he's woken up on January 1st with a hell of a hangover and no clear idea of what happened in the past twenty four hours.

There's only been once though- that he can remember- when he's kissed someone at midnight. It was with a girl he'd seen off and on again for awhile and it hadn't really meant anything; a few minutes later she had gone off to kiss someone else. He wishes it meant something.

For all Grantaire's bragging and teasing, he's honestly a bit stingy when it comes to showing genuine affection.

He just- if he kisses someone, he wants it to be meaningful. He wants the things he does, the relationships he has, to be meaningful.

 

**4 hours 17 minutes til midnight**

This year he's been invited to Courfeyrac's New Year's Eve party. He thinks he might have been invited last year as well, or at least extended the invitation by Joly, but he declined. Last year was different though- he had no idea who Courfeyrac was except that he was apparently part of some group that held meetings dedicated to social change. Grantaire scoffed the first time he heard that and vowed that he wouldn't be caught dead at one of those meetings.

It's different now though. Grantaire hasn't missed an ABC meeting in eleven months. But he still scoffs a lot because, well, some things never change.

He knocks on the door, waits for only a few moments before he's greeted by Courfeyrac's smiling face.

"You're late!" exclaims Bossuet after Grantaire's been let in.

"By, like, ten minutes," he says.

"Yeah, which means we're ten minutes of drinking ahead of you," Joly tells him, a glass of wine in his hand.

Grantaire grins at them. "I guess I'll just have to catch up."

 

**3 hours 39 minutes til midnight**

Grantaire's not quite drunk yet, but he's starting to get there. 

Enjolras isn't drunk either, but his cheeks are red and he's motioning emphatically, Grantaire's not sure if it's because of the bit of wine he's had or it's just his passion, as he talks about the group's plans for the coming year.

Grantaire thinks he's one of the only ones with his full attention on Enjolras. Bahorel's seized control of the karaoke microphone and Musichetta and Bossuet have started a tickle fight with each other. But Grantaire is focused on Enjolras.

Grantaire doesn't believe in most things. Not in magic or miracles or the seemingly impossible. He believes in Enjolras though. The things Enjolras dreams about sound impossible to Grantaire but he's content to listen and believe that, somehow, Enjolras will make it happen.

When Enjolras says something ridiculously idealistic, Grantaire scoffs because, again, some things never change.

It's a pattern, he thinks, as he takes another sip of his drink. He's doomed to repeat it.

 

**2 hours 52 minutes til midnight**

Courfeyrac is definitely drunk. He's gone from singing Taylor Swift to reciting what sounds like possibly Maya Angelou. Jehan is applauding him like crazy and Eponine keeps yelling for encores. 

Grantaire is inebriated enough to find it hilarious but he's not so smashed that he feels he needs to join in with his own recitations of Homer without any context.

He thinks about previous years and the New Year's Eve parties he's been to. Fundamentally, they weren't too different from this. A group of people getting together, drinking, talking, having fun.

This one feels different though. This group of people feels different. When he's with them, Grantaire feels... alive again. Like he's part of a family.

He's about to down another drink when he pauses, sloshes the liquid around the glass, and then sets it back down, still full.

There are patterns, but... not all patterns repeat into infinity.

He wants to remember to this night.

 

**1 hour 15 minutes til midnight**

When Enjolras plops down next to him and smiles, at first Grantaire thinks he might be drunkenly hallucinating before he remembers that he's been slowly sobering up for over an hour. Enjolras is really there, less than a foot away, with his charming smile that fucking lights up the room.

"Have any New Year's resolutions?" Enjolras inquires.

"No," Grantaire says simply.

"Why not?"

Grantaire doesn't really feel like elaborating so all he says is, "There's nothing I need resolved."

Enjolras rolls his eyes but his smile doesn't fade.

"What about you, Apollo?" asks Grantaire. "Got any resolutions?"

His smile turns into a thoughtful purse of the lips. "To work harder to bring awareness to so many of the issues that are getting ignored or swept under the rug."

Work harder. Of course that's Enjolras' plan. Because it's not like the man doesn't work hard enough already. Grantaire's been around for the past eleven months, he's seen how much effort Enjolras puts into his causes. He's also seen how disappointingly little effect it sometimes has.

"Why do you do it, Enjolras?"

Enjolras' brow furrows as he looks at Grantaire, as though he thinks the answer should be obvious. "Don't you ever want to do something meaningful?"

Grantaire shrugs. "The thought has maybe crossed my mind on occasion."

"I know it might not seem like much sometimes," Enjolras continues saying. "But it's not always the big victories that are important. As much as I'd like to wake up tomorrow to a new world where everything is just and fair, I know it won't happen like that. The little victories are just as important." 

Grantaire's on the verge of making a mocking reply when he stops himself and studies Enjolras' fierce, earnest expression.

"You really think it's worth it?"

Enjolras nods. "I do." 

"Do you believe people can change?"

"I believe they can change, but only if they want to. I can't, nobody can, make someone change of they don't want to. We can try to persuade then and encourage them. And I believe that there are a lot of people that _want_ to change."

Combeferre pulls Enjolras away into a conversation after that and Grantaire is accosted by Marius and Cosette.

Grantaire doesn't make New Year's resolutions. But he tells himself that, in this next year, he wants to try harder.

 

**2 minutes til midnight**

Enjolras has found his way to Grantaire's side again.

"To a happy new year," he tells Grantaire.

"Will it be a happy one?"

"It can be," Enjolras says matter-of-factly, "if we try to make it one."

"What about this last year?" Grantaire asks him. "Was it happy?"

Enjolras watches him with focused blue eyes. "It was a good year," he finally answers. "I know I've never said it, but- you're good- it's good to have you here. With us."

It's one minute til midnight and everyone around them has started the countdown.

If someone had asked Grantaire earlier whether he'd changed in this past year, he probably would've given an emphatic answer of 'no'. But now he thinks back on the year and the people he's met and the friends he's made. He may not have changed very much, but he thinks he might be changing for the better.

It's twenty seconds to midnight and Enjolras' eyes haven't left his.

He doesn't look away either and he takes a deep breath. "Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky," he mutters.

Grantaire's mouth is on Enjolras' before the countdown reaches zero. They're still kissing as champagne is downed and confetti is thrown and the sound of fireworks can be heard in the distance.

 

**42 seconds past midnight**

Their lips aren't touching anymore but his forehead is leaning against Enjolras'. They aren't holding hands but their fingers keep brushing together, alternating between stroking and getting tangled.

Enjolras softly smiles.

"Happy New Year."

And Grantaire believes that it might be. Because sure, why the hell not? This last year wasn't too bad. Maybe this year will be happy.

New year. New beginnings.


End file.
